Chapter 4 MENU FOR THE ANCIENT MAYA Modeling Considerations Necessary components for inferring the structure of extinct dietary systems from the isotopic analysis of skeletal remains include determining possible foods and the behavioral and agricultural structure of the human system under investigation. Testable models can be formed from ethnographic studies of descendants, contact period documents (if they exist), and archaeological material remains. From these components it should be possible to model the flow and cycling of stable isotopes within ancient human systems. Studies that contain reconstructions of available regional ecological resources indicate potential dietary items. Information specific to the Copán Valley includes a compilation of plants from the Copán Valley (Popenoe 1919), and an ethnography by Wisdom (1940) of the Chorti Indians who lived near the Copán Valley. Food plants which originated in Mesoamerica include the grains Amaranthus hypochondriacus, A. creuntus, and Zea mays; stimulants such as pulque (Agave salmiana), monkey chocolate (Theobroma angustifolium), and cacao (T. cacao); vegetable species from the Curcurbitaceae family (for instance, Cucurbita argyrosperma, C. moschata, C. pepo, and C. ficifolia, Sechium edule and S. tacaco), and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), Crotalaria longirostrata, Solanum americanum, S. wendlandi, Cnidoscolus chayamansa, Chenopodium berlandieri spp. nuttalliae, Chamaedorea tepejilote, and Opuntia leucantha. Grain legumes include Phaseolus vulgaris, P. coccineus, P. polyanthus, and P. acutifolius. Many fruit trees have their origins in Mesoamerica, for example the species Annona diversifolia, A. reticulata,